


This Restless Dream

by afirethatcannotdie



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Animals, Awkward Flirting, Dumb boys being dumb, First Meetings, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:31:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9624206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afirethatcannotdie/pseuds/afirethatcannotdie
Summary: “Hiii, I called earlier about the dogs?” he asks, taking a few steps closer to the desk where Louis is standing. He’s taller than Louis, with a dimple when he smiles and bright green eyes. There's a cute eagerness about his whole presence. “Do you have any puppies?” He’s a bit like a puppy himself, actually.AU. Louis works at an animal shelter and Harry wants a puppy. Things don't go quite according to plan.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a prompt challenge that a group of us are participating in for the prompt "Cat". To read the other amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, you can [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/cat/works) and to see all fics written as part of the challenge, you can [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/2017_hl_prompt_challenge/works).
> 
> Thanks to [KK](waytoomanypeopleintheaddisonlee.tumblr.com) for the britpick and [Sus](www.lululawrence.tumblr.com) for betaing.

Louis stares at the phone as it rings for the third time in half an hour. He doesn’t pick up.

Don’t the kids who’ve prank called every afternoon this week know that the shelter has caller ID? That he can _see_ that it’s the same number calling? Do they really think he’s that dumb?

The phone finally stops and Louis goes back to his reading. Lottie gave it to him; it’s some novel she read in her English seminar that she insisted he check out. He wonders when Liam will be back with their lunch. He’s been gone for ages, long enough to miss all the prank calls.

The phone rings again, and with an angry sigh he reaches over and grabs it. “Can you please stop fucking calling us? This is a place of business. We don’t have time for you to bother us all day. Go do your homework or something.”

He’s about to slam the phone down when he hears an intake of breath on the other end.

“Ummm, I was just calling to see if you have any dogs,” says a voice on the other end, deep and lethargic. Definitely not one of the kids who was calling earlier. “But I guess--”

“No, no, I’m sorry,” Louis hurries, pulse thrumming behind his ears. “I thought you were -- I’m sorry, we keep getting these prank callers, and I thought you were…”

“Not a prank caller,” the guy says.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Louis says, running a hand through his hair in stress.

“So… do you have any dogs?” He sounds a bit impatient now. “For adoption at the shelter, I mean, not you personally.”

“We do,” Louis says quickly. “I think we’ve got a dozen or so. D’you wanna come in and see them?”

“Yeah, that’d be good,” the man says. “Can I make an appointment for this afternoon? Maybe around three?”

“You don’t need an appointment. Just come in any time before six.”

“Alright, I will. Thanks.”

“No problem.” Louis sets the phone back in its cradle and turns back to his book, still feeling a bit apologetic for his outburst. He’s always had a bit of a temper.

The phone rings a few minutes later and he picks it up again, voice pleasant as he says, “Animal Sanctuary, how can I help you?”

There’s giggling on the other end as a voice says, “Hey, is your refrigerator running? Well you better go catch it!”

Louis hangs up the phone without a word and rests his forehead on the desk. It’s going to be a long day.

*

The door to the animal shelter swings open just before three. It’s a tall guy with short, scruffy curls, a backpack slung over one shoulder. Louis stands and pastes a smile on his face. “Hi, welcome to Animal Sanctuary! What can I do for you today?” he says in his best customer service voice. He hates that voice. It sounds so fake.

“Hiii, I called earlier about the dogs?” he asks, taking a few steps closer to the desk where Louis is standing. He’s taller than Louis, with a dimple when he smiles and bright green eyes. There's a cute eagerness about his whole presence. “Do you have any puppies?” He’s a bit like a puppy himself, actually.

“Yes, hi,” Louis says. “Sorry about the… you know, whole phone thing.” He waves his hand in the air, a nonsensical gesture performed out of habit.

“S’okay,” he says, smiling wider. That dimple is a bit obscene now. “I’m Harry.”

He gives a dorky little wave that Louis feels compelled to return. “Louis.”

“I know,” Harry says, and when Louis flashes him a look of confusion, he points to Louis’ name tag. His boss, Leigh-Anne, insists that they all wear them, no matter how many times Louis tells her that animals can’t read.

(“It’s for the _guests_ ,” she always insists. “They need to be made more comfortable, and knowing your name helps them with that.”)

Sometimes Louis wonders what he’s still doing working at the animal shelter. He said that he would only stay until he finished uni, but the pay from his first full-time job had been so meager that he’d agreed to stay working on weekends. That lasted until he went to graduate school, when he started working even more, fitting in shifts between his classes to pay the rent. Even with just a year of school to go, he fears that he’ll never get out of here.

“So… the puppies?” Harry asks, looking at Louis with a funny expression on his face.

“Oh right! Let me take you there right now.” Louis sets out the little sign that tells any guests he’ll be right back and opens the door to the back room. “Go ahead.”

Harry nods his head as he walks through the door first.

“The dogs are this way,” Louis says, leading him down the hallway. The walls are covered in framed photos of cats, dogs, and even a few lizards. Most of them were sent by families thrilled to have found their pet at Animal Sanctuary. Louis may not be crazy about the fact that he still works here, but he loves that he gets to make people happy in that way.

Louis leads Harry to a spacious room with two rows of kennels, each with a metal gate and enough space for the dogs to stretch their legs. Each has their own little doggy flap so they can run outside and play together. It’s a cute set up. Louis is thankful that he never has to feel guilty about the animals being in a shelter. As much as he’d love for them all to find their forever homes today, he knows that they have a good life here.

The moment the first dog -- Buddy, what an unoriginal name -- spots Louis, his barking starts a chain reaction, all fifteen dogs yipping and barking at once. It’s too early for dinner time and they’ve already been walked by the team of volunteers, so a visitor at this time can only mean one thing: a friend to pay attention to them.

“They’re all so cute,” Harry exclaims, walking over to Pippa, a little labradoodle who came to the shelter last week. He squats down to get a closer look. “How do people choose just one?”

Louis laughs. “I’m not sure. Sometimes they get two, if they can’t decide.”

“Oh, I definitely can’t have two. My landlord had to be convinced to let me have just one.” Pippa’s licking at his hand through the little chain links of her gate, and he smiles like it tickles.

The sight of it makes Louis’ brain short circuit for a minute and forget what he meant to say. Cute boy plus cute puppy is not a great combination for productivity.

“Okay, so you just want one dog. Got it.”

“Yeah,” Harry says, standing up to his full height. “I just finished uni and moved into my own flat, so I’m looking for a little… companionship, I guess?” He fluffs his hair as he says it, like he’s self conscious about the statement.

 _Interesting_.

“That makes sense. Aren’t we all, really?”

Harry’s lip gives a little quirk. “I guess so.”

Unease doesn’t suit Harry’s face. He has the kind of face that should always be smiling, never frowning. But then again, he also looks like the kind of guy who’d have a steady girlfriend and have many, many babies with her, and from his suggestion that he’s lonely, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

They both look at each other for an extended moment as Harry bites his lip, Louis’ eyes tracing the shape of his nose and his jawline. How did Louis not notice earlier just how _pretty_ he is? Harry’s looking right back, his expression intense.

The door opens and they both jump a bit at the intrusion. The moment’s broken. “Hey, Lou?” Liam asks, poking his head into the kennel room.

“Yeah?” His voice is unnecessarily high pitched, like he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. _It’s nothing_ , Louis tells himself.

“Leigh-Anne’s on the phone, she wants to talk to you.” He looks apologetic.

“Yeah, alright, tell her I’ll be right there,” Louis says, and he turns back to Harry. “Why don’t you take a look around? Take your time, interact with them a bit, and when you find one you like, come back to the front and we’ll get you sorted.”

He pats Harry’s upper arm, and it probably should be awkward but it doesn’t feel that way.

“Okay.”

When he slips out of the kennel room, closing the door with a quiet snick, Liam’s leaning against the wall, staring at Harry through the window.

“What was that about?”

“What d’you mean?” Louis asks as he heads back to his desk. Apparently Liam’s going to follow. Alright.

“That guy. Who is he?”

“Oh, him? His name’s Harry. He wants a dog.” Louis shrugs one shoulder. “We have dogs.”

“We do indeed,” Liam says with a smirk that Louis doesn’t like, and then he can’t say any more because Louis is on the phone with Leigh-Anne.

*

Just as Louis is starting to wonder if he got caught up in some kind of dog fight, Harry ambles back to the front room, a dejected expression on his face.

“You find one?” Louis asks, dropping his book to turn his full attention to Harry.

“No,” Harry says, and he pouts -- actually _pouts_ , and Louis absolutely does not find it kind of adorable, not at all -- before taking a seat on the little stool next to Louis’ desk. He’s possibly the first guest to ever sit there in the whole time Louis has worked here.

“What do you mean? There’s a whole bunch of them in there.”

Harry scrubs a hand over his face. “Yeah, but… none of them felt _right_. None of them felt like my dog.”

Louis gets it. Sometimes guests take a bit longer to choose an animal. It’s a big responsibility, not a decision to be made lightly. “If you want to go back in and spend a bit more time in there, you’re welcome to-”

“No, no,” Harry says, shaking his head. “I can’t really explain it, but I got a vibe for each of them, and none of them are the right one. Annie’s cute but she’s too big for my flat, and Georgie tried to bite my hand off, and Max weed three times in the four minutes I was playing with him.”

Louis chuckles. “You can toilet train him, you know.”

“They just didn’t feel like mine,” Harry says a little helplessly.

“Well, that’s okay. Maybe your dog just isn’t here with us. I’ll get you a list of other shelters, though you know that we _are_ the best,” Louis teases.

“That’s what I’ve heard. But that’s why I want to get something here.”

Louis is starting to wonder if this is one of those customer service issues with no real solution. If Harry wants a dog, but they don’t have any dog he wants, and he’s not willing to go to any other shelter, well… there’s no answer.

“I don’t know…” Inspiration dawns on him like a light bulb switching on over his head; he’s never believed that happens but he can practically feel the light hovering above him. “What about a cat?”

Harry looks a bit taken aback at the suggestion. “A cat?”

“Yeah, we’ve got loads. Don’t listen to what anyone says; they’re fun to have. If you get a nice fluffy one who sits in your lap all day, it’s the best. And they’re pretty low maintenance, might be nicer in your flat.”

Harry’s eyes widen slightly at this, so Louis continues.

“They’re all in the other room, I can take you to see them if you want.”

“I mean, I did want something a bit more active, something I could take on walks, but, er, I’m not opposed.”

“Great!” Louis says, standing up and opening the door for Harry again. “Cats can be plenty active, you’ll see.”

*

Harry chooses a little tabby cat that he’s drawn to almost immediately. She’s called Pepper but he says that he might think about changing her name; he’s not sure that it fits her that well, he explains. Who is this boy and what is his obsession with making sure that everything _fits_?

Louis lifts Pepper-for-now into a traveling case so that Harry can bring her home, and then prints out all the paperwork for him to sign.

“You’d think I was giving away the rights to my life with all this, wouldn’t you?”

“It’s not that much,” Louis retorts. “Just a promise to get her checked out by a vet, your personal information, an acknowledgement that all animals come with health risks and you consent to those risks, another form with your personal information, a list of the details from your birth cert, your mum’s maiden name…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Harry says, and he looks about three seconds away from sticking out his tongue.

Now that he’s picked out Pepper, he seems more settled and playful than he had earlier.

The power of animals knows no bounds.

“Alright, I think you’re all set,” Louis says, flicking through the stack of signed papers for a second time. He rests his fingers on the top of the carrying case, tapping it lightly. “I hope you and Pepper have a very happy life together.”

“That’s it?” Harry asks, head jerking up to look at Louis.

“Yeah, I think you’re good.”

“But what about like...taking care of her, and stuff?” Harry stammers. “Feeding her?”

“It’s all in that paperwork right there. Food twice a day, make sure she’s got water, and entertain her with toys as needed. It really couldn’t be easier.”

Harry still looks a bit lost.

“But hey,” Louis continues. “If you ever have any questions, you can feel free to come back and I’ll be happy to help. Or call. I’m here nearly every afternoon.”

Harry visibly relaxes at this. “Okay, thanks. Thank you, Louis.”

He reaches out his hand to shake Louis’. _The mark of a true gentleman_ , his mum would say. His palm is bigger than Louis’, warm and solid and comfortable, and Louis holds on for a beat longer than he should.

When Harry bids him goodbye and Pepper leaves the shelter to start her new life, Louis falls back into his chair and groans.

Liam comes in a few minutes later. He takes one look at him and starts laughing. “Oh, you are fucked.”

“Stop!” Louis protests, but it’s too high pitched and desperate. “It’s fine. He’s probably straight, and I’m probably never gonna see him again. It’s fine.”

“Is it, though?” Liam takes a seat on the stool Harry just vacated, and Louis can’t help but wonder if it’s still warm from Harry’s body heat.

“Okay, maybe not.”

*

He does his best to forget about Harry, but every time he leads a guest to the room where they keep the cats, he sees Pepper’s empty cage and can’t help but wonder how they’re doing. Is she adjusting well to her new home? Is Harry playing with her every day? Or is he too busy texting pretty girls and making out with them on his living room couch while Pepper sits in the corner?

“Would you _chill out_?” Liam asks one afternoon as Louis sorts through the stack of post. “I can hear you thinking about him from here.”

Louis loves Liam, he really does. They’ve been friends since the first day Liam walked in the door, a feisty nineteen year old who wanted to spend all day hanging out with dogs. Four years later, the two of them are as close as brothers. But sometimes -- often -- Louis resents that closeness. He’d like to keep some secrets to himself.

“I just wonder if I’m ever going to hear from him again! It’s been--”

“Five days, yes, I know,” Liam says. “So you’ve said all week.”

“Well, yesterday it was four days,” Louis protests. “Do you think they’re okay?”

“Do I think he’s okay with his cat that he adopted and for which he has a packet full of instructions? Yes, Louis, I do.”

“I just wonder,” Louis says, opening his Facebook page on the computer. They’re not _really_ supposed to do that, but he’s twenty five years old and he’s done all his work. Leigh-Anne will survive.

He barely looks up when the door opens. Liam can take care of the greetings today.

“Hi there,” Liam says, and he pokes Louis in the back. Louis looks up and standing there is Harry, an expectant look on his face and a cat carrier in his hand.

“Hi,” he says, eyes focused on Louis. “How’s it going?”

“G--good,” Louis stutters, shocked by the sight of him. He honestly was not expecting to ever see Harry again. He’s wearing a green headscarf with a white t-shirt and blue jeans, his skin slightly more tanned than it was the last time he was here. Well, it has been quite warm over the past few days. “How’s -- how are you and Pepper doing?”

“Her name’s Isolde now,” Harry says, taking a step forward and setting her carrier down on the table next to the desk. “You know, like Tristan and Isolde?”

“I don’t,” Louis says, a bit apologetically. He can feel Liam staring at him.

“Oh. Well he was a knight, she fell in love with him, they both died. Very romantic stuff,” he says, cracking a smile. There’s that goddamn dimple again. “There’s a famous opera about it. Anyway.”

“Ah, well I guess you do learn something new everyday. But is Pepper -- Isolde, sorry -- okay? What’s brought you here?”

Harry takes a deep breath. “I’m just concerned about getting her spayed? I brought her to the vet and they said that we should do it soon, but I wondered what you thought.”

Louis pulls up the cat’s record on the computer system, glancing through it briefly before turning back to Harry. “Well, she’s going to be four months old soon, and if you don’t do it before then, she’ll go into heat. I know she’s lovely, but that’s really not something you want to deal with.”

Harry lets out his breath, looking a bit more settled. “Okay, that’s what he said, but it’s nice to hear from someone I trust. Thanks.”

“That’s it?” Louis says, watching as he picks up the papers and stuffs them back into the folder again.

“Yeah, that’s it. I just wanted to come by and check.”

“Okay,” Louis says, taken aback. Harry came all this way to ask about getting his cat spayed, when he easily could have called? Did he come just to see Louis? But no, definitely not. He’d mentioned the vet, and the one Animal Sanctuary recommends is just around the corner. He definitely was just combining errands and stopped in on his way somewhere else. That’s it.

“Have a nice day, Louis.”

“You too.”

*

He sees Harry again two days later. This time he doesn’t have a cat, but he’s carrying a pair of giant poster boards and a set of art paints that are threatening to drop out of his grip at any moment.

“Hi,” Louis says, jumping up from his desk and crossing the small entryway to steady the paints and take them off Harry’s hands. “Easy there.”

“Thanks so much,” Harry says, setting the posters on the floor. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Louis says, and there’s a happy grin on Harry’s face that Louis wishes he had put there. “You?”

“Better now.”

“Yeah, those paints looked heavy,” Louis says. Something in Harry’s face twitches. “So what’s up?”

“Isolde isn’t eating the food I bought her, and I wonder what I should do. Maybe she needs a different kind?”

“You bought her the one I mentioned from Tesco, right?” Harry nods. “Some cats are just picky. If you run down to the pet shop down the road, you can get her a few pouches of Royal Canin, see if she likes it.”

Harry wrinkles his nose, and _oh right_ , he might not be able to afford premium pet food, what with being a recent uni graduate and all. Louis is struck by a sudden sense of wonder at how Harry spends his days. “What’s that?”

“It’s premium pet food. They don’t sell it in the supermarket.”

“Fancy,” Harry retorts. “But okay, I’ll do that. Thanks.”

He picks up his stuff to head out, and Louis stops him before he can get to the door. “Hey, Harry? What’re the posters and paint for?”

“I work at a nursery school,” Harry says, letting the words hang in the air between them before he leaves.

Cute, loves animals, _and_ takes care of kids? Yeah, Louis is fucked.

*

“Louis, d’you think I bought the right kind of cat litter?”

“Louis, do you think cats like colorful toys better?”

“Lou, is the fat content in beef too much for her?”

Each time Harry stops by with an innocuous question, Louis considers telling him he could find all the answers on that magical thing known as the internet. But seeing Harry’s bright smile lifts his day and causes his crush to grow a little deeper, so he wouldn’t dare turn him away.

There’s just something about him, all energy and joy and earnestness, that Louis wishes he could bottle up and keep forever.

“You should just ask him out,” Liam suggests one afternoon. Harry’s come in three days in a row, and emotionally, Louis is not doing well.

“I can’t, you know that,” Louis says with a pout. “He’s probably straight, and even if he’s not, why would he be interested in _me_? Besides, we’ve become friends. I don’t want to ruin it.”

Liam shuts the binder he’s looking at with a sharp noise that makes Louis jump in surprise. “Come off it. So you’ve been burned a couple times. We all have. You’re one of the best guys I know. Harry would be lucky to have you. Scratch that. _Anyone_ would be lucky to have you.”

Louis feels something strangely like tears pricking the back of his eyelids, so he takes the teasing route instead. “What’re you saying, you want to get together with me? All you have to do is ask.”

“Tommo, I think we both know we’d kill each other in about three minutes flat.”

That’s true.

*

Harry’s perched on the stool, doodling on a spare pamphlet as Louis finishes up a phone call. Louis has an upside down view of the drawing, but it seems to be some kind of abstract art.

“What, are you trying to be the next Picasso?” Louis teases when he sets the phone back in its cradle. There’s been a problem with their next delivery of cat litter, and he’s going to have to get that sorted before Leigh-Anne has his head. “The next Jackson Pollock?”

“Was thinking the next Warhol, actually,” Harry quips. “Or maybe not the ‘next’ anything. Maybe I’ll be the one and only Harry Styles.”

“Can I see it?”

There’s a moment’s hesitation. “It’s a bit dumb,” Harry says, but he pushes the paper toward Louis anyway.

Louis picks it up and squints, trying to figure out what it is. There’s definitely a bird, and… is it standing in a puddle?

“It’s a bird on a hot dog,” Harry offers, and Louis laughs until his stomach hurts.

“You are something else, Styles.”

Harry looks ridiculously pleased by the compliment, and Louis tries to stamp down the pure _want_ that sparks in his belly. He’d hoped it would go away once he got to know Harry better, like it does with most guys he thinks he’s fallen in love with. Instead, learning about Harry has only made him like a man in the desert, thirsty for more.

He’s not sure how to fix it.

Well, he knows how, but the risk of getting hurt is too great. He and Harry can coexist in this semi-friendship, seeing each other every few days while Louis answers questions about cat behavior, and eventually Louis will meet someone else.

Eventually.

“Hey, you okay?” Harry asks, his brow furrowed. “You look a bit… sad.”

Louis forces a smile. “No, I’m good. Just thinking about some stuff.”

“Thinking about stuff,” Harry repeats. “The last time someone told me that, they ended up crying for two hours on my living room couch. You think I should be prepared for that again?”

“Don’t think so,” Louis says with a smile.

“Okay, good. Hey, I never asked, but do you have any pets? For someone who loves animals, you never talk about your own, so I thought maybe not.”

“I’ve got a cat, actually. A big lazy orange thing. My boyfriend left it when he moved away.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Well, ex-boyfriend now. Guy was a total twat, leaving me with a cat to take care of when I was busy working my arse off in graduate school. Which is still the case, but… we’ve grown to love each other, Toto and I.”

“You have a cat named Toto? As in Wizard of Oz?”

“It’s a great piece of cinema, so I’d rather you didn’t judge, thanks. You’re one to talk, naming your cat after the dead lover of a knight.”

“Excellent point,” Harry concedes. “Alright, I better get going. Dinner won’t cook itself.”

Louis tries not to look too forlorn at the prospect of saying goodbye to Harry. He’s a grown man, goddamnit. He should be better at this. “Alright, I’ll see you later.”

Harry gathers up his stuff, throwing his pens and notebook into his bag. He hesitates when he picks up the drawing, and then hands it to Louis. “For you.”

It’s a weirdly touching gesture. _You’re an adult,_ Louis reminds himself. _It’s just a silly picture._ “Thanks, Harry. I’m gonna put it on the corkboard above my desk.”

“Good, then you won’t forget about me.”

“I’d never,” Louis says with a smile. “Get outta here, some of us have work to do.”

“Yeah, alright, bye.”

“Bye.”

Louis waves goodbye, and then sifts through his desk in search of a pushpin. Harry clears his throat. “Hey, Lou?”

He looks up to see Harry resting one hand on the open door, his mouth upturned in a smile as he glances back at Louis.

“Yeah?” Louis asks, smiling despite himself.

Harry shakes his head. “It’s just… nothing. Have a good day.”

And then he’s gone.

*

Zayn and Liam convince Louis to go out to the pub that night, promising that it’ll be fun.

“Last time we did this, you puked in the bushes and Zayn spent the whole night crying,” Louis says. “I’d very much like to avoid that this time.”

“That was not the last time! That was years ago. Stop exaggerating,” Zayn insists. “Besides, we’re already here. Suck it up.”

“Alright, alright,” Louis grumbles.

The pub is crowded, but not any more than a usual Saturday night. It’s their usual pub, the one that they frequented in uni and haven’t been able to let go of.

“I’ll get the first round,” Liam says, and Louis and Zayn head for their usual booth while Liam heads for the bar.

“So Liam says you’ve found yourself a new guy,” Zayn says, and Louis should have _known_ that this was an intervention.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, suddenly very intent on arranging the salt packets on the table in color order.

“Come on, you do.”

“I don’t.”

“Louis.”

He drops three sugar packets on the table in frustration. “It’s nothing, alright? He’s cute -- okay, he’s way more than cute, he’s the best looking guy I’ve ever seen -- but he’s probably straight. It’s fine.”

Zayn’s face is unbearably tender. He looks like he wants to say ‘Again? You did this again?’

Before he can, Louis holds up a hand. “I know, it’s fucked that I could do this to myself. But Z, if you saw him, you’d… you’d get it.”

Zayn nods and bites his lip, and Louis knows him well enough to understand that he’s trying not to say the wrong thing.

“Well, hey,” he says nodding as Liam drops three beers on the table and then slides in next to Louis. “Cheers to you getting really drunk and finding someone else, yeah?”

“Cheers,” Louis says, but he’s not entirely convinced.

*

The bar is loud and bright and Louis is three beers in, not quite drunk but on the edge of tipsy sliding into drunk, and everything feels happy and perfect.

“I love you lads!” he yells to Zayn and Liam, and grabs Liam’s face to press a sloppy kiss to his cheek. “Love -- love you s’much,” he hiccups.

“Love you too,” Zayn says, patting his hand. “Li, d’you wanna get us some water?”

“Don’t need wat’r,” Louis slurs. “No wat’r. ‘m good with beer.”

“Liam,” Zayn repeats, and then Liam’s off to the bar again. “Do you want to go home?”

Louis shakes his head vehemently, and it feels like his brain is bouncing around inside of his skull a little bit. “No.”

“Let’s go home.” Zayn’s voice is soft like a teacher’s. Teacher. Harry’s a teacher. Harry’s pretty. _So pretty._

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Zayn says, and oops. He must have said that out loud.

“You did.”

Liam returns with the waters and by then, Louis is properly drunk.

“I love him,” Louis cries, and that’s when his happy tipsyness slides into drunk weepiness. “Liam, have you seen him? He’s--” _hiccup_ “--s’nice.”

“Have I seen Harry, who often comes to the animal shelter where I work? Yes, yes I have.”

“Not nice,” Louis says, swatting at his shoulder. “I wanna… wanna kiss him.”

“I know,” Zayn says, and he slides around the booth and pulls Louis into a hug.

“I love you, Zaynie. Love you. But not like--” _hiccup_ “--how I love Harry. Love, love, love. So much. So pretty.”

On his other side, Liam hugs tighter.

*

The next morning, nursing a throbbing hangover and a whopping feeling of regret over his actions the night before, he heads out to his favorite coffee shop to get Liam and Zayn some pastries to make up for it.

He doesn’t know how he got there, but he spent the night in Zayn’s bed, sandwiched between him and Liam as he sobbed into their shoulders. Definitely not his best night.

The light of the coffee shop feels blinding this early in the morning -- he really had quite a _lot_ to drink, why does he always _do_ that -- so he keeps his head down and stares at his scuffed Vans on the tile floor.

He’s two people from ordering when he hears a voice that he would recognize anywhere, the low voices traveling from the table by the corner to the counter where he stands.

“Oh my God, Niall, that’s Louis. The one I was telling you about.”

“Louis from the animal shelter?” says another voice. They both need to work on their whispering.

“Yes. Oh my God, do I go say hi?” If he were less hungover, Louis would laugh at the exchange. But after last night, his head is pounding and he wants to nap for three hours and not think about Harry.

“Dude, you make up questions about your cat to have excuses to go see him. I think you can go say hi.”

 _What_. That is… very interesting.

“Okay,” Harry says, and he sounds almost nervous. “Come with me though, I’ll introduce you.”

Louis’ eyes widen when he hears footsteps. He tries to concentrate on the terrible dye job of the woman in front of him while he attempts to compose himself.

“Louis?”

He spins around and sees Harry standing there with his usual brilliant smile, his curls tied back with a headscarf and his green eyes shining. Just the sight of him eases Louis’ hangover.

“Harry. Hi,” he breathes.

He steps out of the queue to give Harry a hug, and decidedly does not think about how good Harry smells and how he himself probably smells like a brewery.

“This is my friend Niall,” Harry says, and the bleach blonde guy standing next to him waves.

“Nice t’meet ya,” he says. “Did you know that Harry talks about you all the time?”

“Niall,” Harry hisses, elbowing him in the stomach.

“He’s proper obsessed, never shuts up,” Niall continues, the sound of his voice growing louder over Harry’s protests. “Think he wants to marry you.”

Louis looks Harry straight in the eyes and he looks sheepish, a pretty pink blush rising to his cheeks.

Louis speaks first, confusion coloring his tone.“What… I don’t… help.”

“He’s not wrong,” Harry says after a moment’s silence. “I _do_ talk about you a lot.”

“You do?” Louis feels stunned, like he’s been shot by a bolt of electricity and can’t move.

“I’ve been trying to ask you out for _weeks_ ,” Harry finally says, and a _whoosh_ of breath escapes from Louis at the words. “But every time I try, I panic. Could never get up the courage.”

“This is a joke,” Louis says flatly. “You’re joking.”

“Mate, he’s not fucking around,” Niall says, the grin on his face too cheerful for Louis to be anything but suspicious.

“But I thought… I thought you were straight.”

Harry laughs. “Me? Absolutely not. I’ve known I was gay since I was sixteen.” Something blooms in Louis’ chest, he thinks it might be hope. “I’ve never laughed with anyone the way I laugh with you. And I’m really hoping you feel the same, otherwise I’m going to look like a massive idiot in front of all these people. So can I kiss you already?”

Louis turns his head to look around the coffee shop, and everyone’s stopped to watch the exchange. The girl behind the counter even has her hand to her heart.

“Yeah, Harry,” Louis laughs. “You can.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> [find me on tumblr](www.afirethatcannotdie.tumblr.com) || [reblog the fic post](http://afirethatcannotdie.tumblr.com/post/156982159256/this-restless-dream-by-afirethatcannotdie-hiii)


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